This invention relates to a separator for separating mixed rice into unhulled rice and unpolished rice after the rice have passed through a rice huller to remove the hulls from rice, and more particularly, to a separator of a type of rotationally oscillating a separating vessel having segmental separating plates for such separation.
Japanese patent application Heisei 10-51482 filed by the same assignee as in the present application, discloses this type of rotationally oscillating separator comprising a separating vessel suspended by means of a plurality of stays extending radially downwardly from their apex defining a fulcrum at the top of a stationary support frame,and having a plurality of segmental separating plates disposed in a cone-shaped configuration within the vessel, a vertical shaft positioned below the support frame and having an eccentric portion coupled to the bottom of the vessel via an universal joint, and drive means for rotatively driving the shaft. During operation of the separator, rotation of the shaft causes the separating vessel to be eccentrically rotated about the fulcrum, thereby rotationally oscillating the separating plates for separation of mixed rice into the unhulled rice and the unpolished rice. In this arrangement, there are disadvantages of increasing a height of the machine and a space where the machine is installed due to the fact that the separating vessel is suspended by the plurality of stays. The presence of fulcrum makes it difficult to install the separating vessels in a stacked relation.